Ophthalmology surgeon Bhagyashree Shevade has come up with an idea to reduce waste in theatres.

She noticed that  most of the theatres all the trolleys are set up at the start of the session. So if there are on the day cancellations then all the disposables on the trolley are just thrown out.

To reduce this  in the area she works, Surgical Procedure Unit at HRI, they now only make 75% of the trolleys ready in advance and only once the surgeon has finalised the list is the last trolley made up.

This has meant a different way of working but she hails the whole team for adopting the new procedure and saving the Trust money.In Theatre 8 at CRH, where the team does half of our Ophthalmic surgery, a similar policy is being adapted.

She said: “ I had done an audit in ophthalmology theatre. The  cost of disposable items per cataract surgery (the  commonest surgery done in ophthalmology) is around £200 per trolley.

“In the audit year 2015, there were almost 208 cases cancelled on the day  out of total 3800 cases. That led to wastage of 208 x£200 direct cost.”

She now reckons this could be adopted Trust-wide with the potential for huge savings.

She added: “ I was told getting all trolleys ready even before the surgeon arrives and finalises the list after reviewing the patient is the norm in all the theatres. The wastage of disposables could be more depending on the type of surgery involved.

“ I reckon if we make amendments in the practice then definitely we can reduce wastage at resources at all levels